Your Right to Know

BOCA RATON, Fla. — A little more than four years ago, John Kasich told
The Dispatch, “One thing that I don’t want to reward is illegal immigration.”

He called for a comprehensive federal immigration law protecting America’s borders. And he
reiterated his longtime support for amending the U.S. Constitution to end birthright citizenship
for children born here to illegal immigrants.

But now, as his fellow Republican governors loudly voice many of the same sentiments, Kasich is
urging them to ratchet down the rhetoric and try to work with President Barack Obama to solve one
of the nation’s longstanding vexing problems.

Hours before Obama outlined executive action that could grant a reprieve from deportation for
millions now in the country illegally, Kasich conceded that his own stance on immigration has “
evolved” because he is “maybe a little smarter now.”

“The country needs healing,” he said. “I wouldn’t ever be one to tell you that I don’t change my
mind or that my thinking doesn’t evolve. … I’m also a different guy than I was years ago. This job
grows you up.”

He was the only governor during the Republican Governors Association’s conference this week to
express openly a willingness to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

“I don’t want to see anybody in pain,” Kasich said. “So I guess when I look at this now, I look
at it differently than I did in ’10. Because I’ve become convinced that sometimes, you just got to
say this is what we’re gonna do and if you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can help you.”

In contrast to what he said a month before he won the governor’s office in 2010, Kasich sounded
a note of compassion for those struggling to make a new life in America. He noted that his wife had
a friend who was forced to return to Nicaragua, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“So when I look at a group of people who might be hiding, who may be afraid, who may be scared,
who have children, I don’t want to be in a position of where I make it worse for them,” he
said.

In response to questions, Kasich said he didn’t know whether Ohio will have to act on such
issues as driver’s licenses, Medicaid services or in-state college tuition in response to Obama’s
action tonight.

The governor also said he hasn’t thought about whether Ohio would join a lawsuit threatened by
Wisconsin Gov. Walker and outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“You have to have dialogue in this country with people who may not think exactly the way you
think,” Kasich said.

He did criticize Obama for acting unilaterally rather than reaching out to Republicans, who
increased their majority in the U.S. House and took control of the Senate in this month’s
election.

“When you do this, you really create such antipathy,” Kasich said. “We really can’t move forward
as a country. … When we become so divided, it gets harder.”